An Engineering Mind - The GeekDad Video Interview

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An Engineering Mind - The GeekDad Video Interview

(image: Todd Sierer)

There is a section of the populace that speaks their minds with reckless abandon. They do not bow to political correctness and only consider litigation when there is a distinct patent infringement. This section of society generally thinks and acts on a logical plane of intelligence, only speaking out when there is injustice in the world - or someone in the vicinity who will listen. They are engineers. Their minds are unlike any other. All the cynicism, sarcasm and general hatred for mankind you think you have they possess in their little fingers.

Then there are more creative engineers such as Todd Sierer and Michael Devlin. While at work at National Instruments, an international purveyor of graphical programming software and modular hardware, Todd and Mike decided to share their engineering minds with the world. Most specifically, share their cynical and realistic observations with the world. These are the things that you are thinking, but are generally afraid to say without writing them on an obscure blog under a fictitious pseudonym in a damp dark corner of the internet. Todd and Mike, they made videos from their cubicles while at work.

Covering subjects such as Superman and Thermodynamics, Bullies, Swine Flu, Dealing with Legal, Robots and Thanksgiving, Todd and Mike operated under the impression that eventually they would be fired for their actions. Being engineers, they continued with the videos anyway and hilarity ensued. Not only did National Instruments end up sponsoring their videos, but they even built them a nifty little website. Whatever company secrets Todd & Mike possess, they better hope they don't lose them. Recently their videos have garnered national attention being shown at trade-shows and engineering events. They have also recently gotten involved with FIRST, a national robotics competition for high school students.

Since being an engineer automatically makes you a geek, Todd and Mike were more than excited when I approached them to do an interview and profile here on GeekDad. While a conventional interview format would work for most folks, they suggested we do a video interview. Turns out, the video was the best way to capture Todd's unique wit and delivery. So, GeekDad presents An Engineering Mind: The Interview:

If you can't view the embedded video, please click here. If you can't view YouTube at work, then you are out of luck until you get home.

Not ones to hog all the glory, if you have a pet peeve or rant about the world or just want a simple question answered by an engineering mind go ahead and send them an email.